Computing counter



May 2, 1967 F. BERCK ETAL 3,

COMPUTING COUNTER Filed Nov. 23, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet l FIG-l INVENTOR5 td/LL/IM 15 35/24? 45/1 M1 JU/VDflLO/W BY fiaaean' wwfw' May 2, 1967 F. BERCK ETAL 3,317,129

COMPUTING COUNTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 25, 1964 Arron/1K:

May 2, 1967 w. F. BERCK ETAL COMPUTING COUNTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 25, 1964 INVE T MAL/JIM F1 ti/F J: j'U/VDILOM VII/IIIIl/I/I/I/IJ United States Patent 3,317,129 COMPUTING COUNTER William F. Berck, Hayward, and Leif J. Sundblom, Castro Valley, Calif., assignors to Rockwell Manufacturing Company, San Leandro, Calif., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 412,974 7 Claims. (Cl. 235-61) This invention relates to computing counters, and more particularly to mechanisms of the type which can be attached to materials or fluid delivering machinery (such as a fuel oil meter) and provide a direct readout of the total price of a delivery, the computing mechanism be ing settable in predetermined constant increments to any given price per unit delivered within a predetermined range.

Computing counters of the type which provide a direct readout of the total price of a delivery of fluid are well known. It has not, however, been possible heretofore to provide a simple, accurate, and relatively friction-free incremental multi-price computing device which, in addition can be readily and accurately set, prior to each delivery if desired, to various unit prices without the use of tools and without the expenditure of any substantial amount of time. The device of the present invention overcomes these deficiencies of the prior art and provides an accurately incrementally adjustable multi-price computing mechanism which can be set to varying unit prices incrementally by the mere rotation of appropriate control knobs. The device of the invention accomplishes this result by providing individually settable ratio gear trains for, say, the cents-per-unit range and the tenths of-a-cent-per-unit range and combining the output of the two gear trains in a subtractive or additive manner to produce an output which can be continuously varied in steps of, say, one-tenth of a cent per unit throughout the entire unit price range of the device.

It is therefore the object of this device to provide a computing counter which can be readily manually precisely set in constant finite increments to a v-arity of computing ratios.

It is another object of this invention to provide a computing counter using a plurality of incrementally variable ratio gear systems, each for a different digit position of, e.g., the decimal system, and selectively combining the outputs of the ratio gear systems to provide a net output variable through a continuous range in increments equal to one integer of the lowest digit or-der used.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a setting mechanism for a device of the aforesaid type which is accurate and jam-proof.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly diagrammatic representation showing the motion flow through the device of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of one embodiment of the inventive device;

FIG. 3 is a detailed plan view of the tenths ratio gear system of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a like view of the units ratio gear system of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section along line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section along line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a vertical section along line 7--7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section along line 88 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 9 is the view of FIG. 8 with the mechanism in its intermediate position between two settings.

Basically, the mechanism of this invention derives a primary rotational input from an input shaft such as the "ice vertical drive shaft of a fuel oil pump. This primary input rotation is fed through appropriate transmission gearing to two or more variable ratio gear systems. Each of these ratio gear systems provides an out-put representative of a given integer of the digital order associated with that gear system; for example, the units system may provide an output representative of an integral number of output units per input-producing unit; the tenths system may provide an output representative of an integral number of tenths of output units per input-producing unit, and so forth. The outputs of the ratio gear trains are then combined in either an additive or subtractive manner by feeding them two at a time to the inputs of one or more planetary systems. The output of the final planetary system then provides an output in which the ratios set by the various ratio gear systems are arithmetically combined to provide a net output rotation per input-producing unit representative of the settings of the ratio gear systems. Since each of the ratio systems is continuously variable by equal increments throughout its range, the net output is variable through the entire range of the device in increments equal to the smallest increment of the lowest order ratio gear system. In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a mechanism is provided for the manual setting of the ratio gear systems in which the setting of the ratio gear system from one increment to the next is accomplished by one full turn of a control knob. The device is so constructed that as soon as the knob is turned away from its home positions, the pickoff gear of the ratio gear system is completely disengaged from the ratio gears and remains so disengaged during the movement from one ratio gear to the next until it has assumed a position in exact alignment with the next ratio gear as the control knob returns to home position. Upon reaching the home position, the pickoff gear is then automatically reengaged with the ratio gear opposite which it is then located.

Referring now to the diagrammatic motion flow representation of FIG. 1, the input drive shaft which provides the rotation to be measured is generally shown at 10. The drive shaft 10 may be provided with an appropriate bevel gear 12 and with a worm gear- 14. The rotation of the bevel gear 12 is transmitted to a second bevel gear 16, whereas the rotation of the worm gear 14 is transmitted through pinion 18 to the shaft 20 of a first ratio gear system 22. In the schematic representation of FIG. 1, the transmission of motion from pinion 18 to shaft 20 is schematically shown by the dotted line 24,

whereas the rotation of the bevel gear 16 is shown to be transmitted directly to the shaft 26 of a second ratio gear system 28.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention described herein as a matter of illustration, the ratio gear system 22 consists of ten gears of which the largest, designated 30 in FIG. 1, may have thirty teeth and the smallest, designated 32 in FIG. 1, may have twenty-one teeth, the intermediate gears each having one tooth less than the next larger gear. It should be understood that the number of ratio gears and teeth in the ratio gear system 22 may be varied as necessary, as long as the number of teeth changes by equal increments from one ratio gear to the next; for example, as will be hereinafter shown in regard to possible modifications of the invention, it may be desirable to use twenty gears ranging in numbers of teeth from, e.g., thirty-two to thirteen.

In like manner, the ratio gear system 28 may be composed of another plurality of gears which, in the preferred embodiment, may number twenty-one as shown in FIG. 1, with the largest gear 34 having thirty-two teeth and the smallest gear 36 having twelve teeth. The intermediate gears, as in system 22, each have one tooth less than the preceding gear, going from left to right in FIG. 1.

All the ratio gears are keyed to the respective shaft on which they are mounted, so that they will rotate with their respective shaft. The rotation of the ratio gears is picked off by a pickofr' gear or pinion 38 (in the case of' system 22) or 40 (in the case of system 28). The pinions 38 and 40 are selectively engageable with any single ratio gear of their system. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the pinions 38 and 40 can be axially displaced along the lead screw 42 or 44, on which they are freely rotatably supported by an axially movable, internally threaded guide block 108 (FIGS. 3 and 4) by using the control element or knob 46 or 48 to rotate the lead screw 42 or 44, respectively. The precise operation of the setting mechanism will be explained in further detail hereinafter. The rotation of pinion 38 is transmitted to a cylindrical gear 50, whereas the rotation of pinion 40 is transmitted to a cylindrical gear 52.

The cylindrical gear 50 drives the shaft 54 to which is keyed a gear 56. The gear 56 is connected, either directly or through an appropriate gear transmission 58 indicated in FIG. 1 by a pair of dotted lines, to the sun gear 60 of a planetary system generally indicated at 62. The cylindrical gear 52 is connected to a shaft 64 which is keyed directly to the cage 66 of the planetary system 62.

In the planetary system 62 the rotation of the cage 66 with respect to the sun gear 60 causes rotation of the idler gears 68 journaled in the cage 66. There are several idler gears 68 in the planetary system 62, although only one is shown in the schematic view of FIG. 1. The idler gear 68 is rotated with respect to the cage 66, when the cage 66 rotates, by the engagement between the idler gear 68 and the pinion 70 which is fixed with respect to the sun gear 60. Each of the several idler gears 68 meshes with one of the idler gears 72 (as best shown in FIG. 2), so that idler gears 72 are driven whenever the idler gears 68 are rotated. The rotation of the idler gears 72, which are also journaled in cage 66, is transmitted through pinion 74 to the output gear 76 of the planeatry system. It is the output gear 76, which, in the device of the invention, provides the netoutput rotation which operates the counter, printing device, or other well-known equipment used to provide the desired indication of, e.g., the total purchase price.

It can be mathematically demonstrated that the angular velocity of the output gear of the planetary system 62 equals twice the angular velocity of the cage 66ithe angular velocity of the sun gear. Consequently, the rotation of the output gear 76 can be expressed as in which p is the angular velocity of the output gear 76; i is the angular velocity of the input drive shaft a is the multiplier determined by the ratio of the bevel gears 12 and 16; k is the ratio determined by the axial position of pickoff pinion 40; b is the multiplier determined by the ratio of gears 14, 18 and 56, 60 (in the embodiment of FIG. 2); and k is the ratio determined by the axial position of pickolf pinion 38. It will be understood that for any given device embodying the invention, a and b are constants, whereas k and k are variable in integral increments by the control knobs 46 and 48. Whether the second term in the parentheses in the above formula is additive or subtractive depends on the relative direction of rotation of the sun gear 60 and the cage 66. If the cage and the sun gear rotate in the same direction, the second term of the parentheses is subtractive; if their direction of rotation is opposite, it is additive.

FIGS. 2 through 4 are illustrative of the specific construction of a representative embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 2, the input drive shaft 10 is shown journaled in a ournal plate 80 and bottom plate 82, which are held in fixed relationship to one another by mounting posts 84. An appropriate mounting bracket for attachment of the device to an input mechanism such as a meter (not shown).

86 may be provided In the illustrative embodiment of FIGS. 2 through 4, it will be assumed that the meter or other device delivering the commodity being sold drives the input drive shaft 10 at a rate of, for example, one revolution per gallon (r.p.g.) in a clockwise direction as seen from the top in FIG. 2. (In FIG. 2, elements marked with an arrow pointing to the left rotate in a clockwise direction as seen from the top; elements marked with an arrow pointing up rotate in a clockwise direction as seen from the right in FIG. 2; and elements marked with an arrow pointing down rotate in a counterclockwise direction as seen from the right in FIG. 2.)

The shaft 10 drives worm gear 14, bevel gear 12 and direct drive gear 88 at the same speed of one r.p.g., inasmuch as these three gears are keyed to shaft 10. The rotation of the direct drive gear 88 may be directly transferred in a one-to-one ratio through gear 89 to the drive shaft of the tenths-of-a-gallon counter wheel of a gallon counter 91 of any well-known construction.

The worm gear 14 rotates with drive shaft 10 at one r.p.g. It drives a worm gear pinion 18 which, in the preferred embodiment, provides a five-to-one reduction from the angular velocity of worm gear 14. Consequently, shaft 20 rotates at 2/10 r.p.g. in a clockwise direction as seen from the right in FIG. 3. Inasmuch as the ratio gears of the system 22 are all keyed to shaft 20 by its flat part 90, they all rotate at the same clockwise angular velocity of 2/10 r.p.g.

Let it now be assumed that the commodity which is being dispensed by the meter costs 20.6 cents per gallon. In that event, the pickoff pinion 38 would be in mesh with the ratio gear 92 of the assembly 22, which in the preferred embodiment of this description would have twentyfour teeth. The pinion 38 in the preferred example would have twenty teeth, and consequently it would rotate in a counterclockwise direction (as seen from the right in FIGS. 2 and 3) at .24 r.p.g. (It will be understood that if pickoff pinion 38 were in mesh with ratio gear 30, which has thirty teeth, the pickolf pinion 38 would revolve at a rate of .30 r.p.g., and that if it were in mesh with ratio gear 32, which has twenty-one teeth, it would revolve at a velocity of .21 r.p.g.)

The rotation of pickoff pinion 38 is transmited to the cylindrical gear 50, which also has twenty teeth in the preferred embodiment and therefore revolved in a clockwise direction (as seen from the right in FIG. 2) at the rate of .24 r.p.g. when pickoff pinion 38 is in mesh with ratio gear 92. The rotation of the cylindrical gear 50 is transmitted through shaft 54 to gear 56, which in the preferred embodiment has the same number of teeth as the sun gear 60 of the planetary system 62 and therefore transmits its rotation to the sun gear at a one-to-one ratio. Consequently, the sun gear 60 of the planetary system 62 revolves in a counterclockwise direction (as seen from the right in FIG. 2) at a rate of .24 r.p.g. in the preferred embodiment;

The bevel gear 12 (FIG. 2), being keyed to the input drive shaft 10, also rotates at a velocity of one r.p.g. in a clockwise direction. As will be seen in FIG. 4, the motion of bevel gear 12 is transmitted in a ratio of one-toone to the bevel gear 16, which has the same number of teeth. The bevel gear 16 is keyed to shaft 26 and causes the same to rotate'in a counterclockwise direction at a rate of one r.p.g. Like the ratio gears of system 22, the ratio gears of system 28 are keyed to their shaft 26, and therefore they all rotate at the same rate of one r.p.g.

If, in the preferred embodiment, the pickofi pinion 40 is meshed with ratio gear 94, which in this example would have twenty-three teeth, the pickoff pinion 40, which has twenty teeth, would be driven in a clockwise direction (as seen from the right in FIGS. 2 and 4) at a rate of 1.15 r.p.g. The motion of pickolf gear 40 'is transmitted to the cylindrical gear 52 (FIG. 2) which also has twentyteeth, in the ratio of one-to-one.

is keyed, rotates in a counterclockwise direction at 1.15 r.p.g. As best seen in FIG. 2, shaft 64 is directly keyed to the cage 66 of planetary system 62. As a result, the motion of shaft 64 causes the cage 66 of planetary system 62 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction at 1.15 r.p.g.

Remembering now that a planetary system produces an output rotation equal to twice the cage rotation minus the sun gear rotation (if both rotate in the same direction, which they do here), it will be seen that the output gear 76 of the planetary system 62 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction at a rate of 20.6 r.p.g. Since the price of the commodity has been assumed herein to be 20.6 cents per gallon, it will be seen that the output gear 76 provides a rotation which can be directly fed through a one-to-one ratio reversing gear 100 to the drive shaft 102 of the cents wheel of an apropriate counter mechanism 104. The counter mechanism 104 will then show the total price of the commodity delivered.

It will thus be understood that within the scope of the invention, the output gear 76 of planetary system 62 can also be used to provide inputs to other mechanisms such as tax computation counters, printing mechanisms, or any other mechanisms whose input is a function of the total price of the commodity delivered.

Setting mechanism It will be understood from the foregoing discussion that the primary inventive concept of this invention (i.e., the concept of arithmetically combining incrementally variable rotations to produce a net rotation incrementally variable over a wide range) can be carried out by manually meshing the pickoff pinions 38 and 40 with the desired ratio gears of the assemblies 22 or 28 respectively. However, the ancillary inventive concept of this invention is directed to a specific setting mechanism, the operation of which will now be described in conjunction with FIGS. 2 through 9 of the drawings.

As will be more clearly seen in FIG. 3, the pickoff pinion 38 is mounted for free rotation on the shaft portion 106 of guide block 108 which can be moved axially of the pickofi? pinion 38 by rotation of the lead screw 42 onto which it is threaded. The guided block 108 is held against rotation with respect to the lead screw 42 by an arm 110 (FIG. integrally formed therewith. The arm 110 is provided with a slot 112 which engages a stationary bar 114 mounted at its ends in the end plates 116 and 118, respectively.

The lead screw 42 is keyed on one of its ends to the conrtol knob 46 and at its other end to the lead screw cap 120. The knob 46 and lead screw cap 120 co-act to prevent axial movement of the lead screw 42 while permitting free rotation and transverse movement thereof. The lead screw cap 120 is equipped with an integrally formed collar 122 which has formed therein a notch 124. As is best seen in FIG. 8, the notch 124 receives the nose 126 of an adjustable stop 128 when the control knob 46 is in its home position. When the control knob 46 is rotated out of its home position, the lead screw 42 and lead screw cap 120 rotate with it and, as best shown in FIG. 9, the notch 124 moves out of engagement with the nose 126 of stop 128:

The same condition prevails at the other end of the shaft, where the knob 46 is equipped with a collar 130 (FIGS. 3 and 6) which has a notch 132 which in the home position of knob 46 engages the nose 134 of stop 136.

Adjacent each of its ends, the lead screw 42 is journaled in journal arms 138, 140 respectively. The journal arms 138, 140 are hinged on shaft 54 of the cylindrical gear 50 (FIG. 2). Springs 142, 144 extend between anchors 146, 148, respectively, fastened to the end walls 118, 116 and ends 150, 152, respectively, of the journal arms 138, 140. The springs 142, 144 bias the lead screw 42, together with the knob 46 and lead screw cap 120, toward the stops 128, 136 to the extent the collars 122, 130

will permit.

It will bereadily seen from FIGS. 8 and 9, for example, that when the control knob 46 is in the home position, engagement of notch 124 with nose 126 and the corresponding engagement of notch 132 with nose 134 will allow the lead screw 42, together with the guide block 108 and pickoif pinion 38, to move upward in FIG. 3 into the position shown by that figure wherein the pinion 38 engages ratio gear 92.

When the knob 46 is now turned out of home position, the notches 124 and 132 become disengaged from their respective noses, and the noses 126, 134 push the collars 122, to the right in FIGS. 6 and 9 (i.e., downwardly in FIG. 3) so as to move the pickofi pinion 38 out of engagement with the ratio gear assembly 22. The threads on lead screw 42 are so dimensioned that one full rotation of the lead screw 42 by knob 46 will cause the pinion 38 to move from alignment with a ratio gear such as 92 to alignment with the next adjacent ratio gear of the assembly 22. When the knob 46 finally returns to home position upon completing one revolution, the notches 124 and 132, upon meshing with the noses 126, 134, once again permit the springs 142, 144 to pull'the lead screw 42 upwardly in FIG. 3 so that pickoff pinion 38 re-engages the ratio gear assembly 22.

It will be readily seen that the mechanism just described permits the pickoff pinion 38 to be moved from engagement with one ratio gear to engagement with another without fear of jamming the mechanism. If the teeth of adjacent ratio gears are circumferentially so positioned that the pickotf pinion cannot properly fall into mesh with the new ratio gear, the situation is corrected as soon as the ratio gears begin to turn because of the action of the springs 142, 144 in continuously biasing the pinion 38 against the ratio gear assembly 22.

It will be noted in FIGS. 6, 8 and 9 that the stops 128, 136 are hinged about pivot screws 154, 156 respectively, and that their lower ends are equipped with slots 158, 160 through which are threaded set screws 162, 164. The purpose of this arrangement is to permit the position of stops 128, 136 to be adjusted from right to left in FIGS. 6, 8, and 9. This adjustment in turn controls the maximum extent to which the lead screw 42 can move upwardly in FIG. 3; and consequently, this adjustment limits the pressure with which the pickoif pinion 38 engages the ratio gears of assembly 22 under the influence of springs 142, 144.

In practice, the stops 128, 136 are adjusted to that the pickoff pinion 38 engages the ratio gears without substantial play or backlash, and yet not so tightly as to cause wear-producing friction between the ratio gears and the pickoff pinion 38. As the mechanism wears after long use, the optimum position of stops 128, 136 can be adjusted by loosening screws 154, 156, 162 and 164 and resetting the stops as necessary. Other well-known means of adjusting the stops 128, 136 as for example by an cecentric, may of course be used.

It will be understood that the cents mechanism controlled by knob 48 operates in the same manner as the ftenths mechanism controlled by knob 46 whose operation has been described above.

It will also be understood that conventional turn counters (not shown) can be embodied in the control knobs 46 and 48 to provide a visual indication to the operator of the position of the pickoif pinions 38 and 40, and hence of the price per gallon to which the device is set.

Modifications The foregoing description of the operation of the mechanism of this invention as illustrated by FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 will readily make it clear that the price per gallon computable by the illustrative embodiment ranges from 9.0 cents per gallon (c.p.g.) when pickoif pinion 40 is in its right-most position and pickoff pinion 38 is in its left-most position, to 29.9 c.p.g. when the reverse is the case. In between these two extremes, it will be understood that the price per gallon can be varied in continuous increments of one-tenth of a cent per gallon.

The above-described range can readily be modified by modifying the device in various ways. For example, the range can be shifted to 14.1 c.p.g. to 35.0 c.p.g. by the simple expedient of interposing between gears 56 and 60 (FIG. 2) an idler gear which reverses the direction of rotation of sun gear 60 but does not modify the angular velocity transmission ratio. By this modification, the indication produced by the tenths assembly is simply added to the indication of the cents assembly instead of subtracted therefrom.

Likewise, the range of the device can be doubled by modifying the ratio betweengears 12 and 16 (FIG. 4) in such a manner as to double the rotational velocity of shaft 26. In that case, each shift of pickofi pinion 40 from one ratio gear of the assembly 28 to the next represents a change in price of two c.p.g. If this is done, it becomes necessary to provide the tenths assembly 22 of FIG. 3 with twenty ratio gears instead of ten, so that each shift of pickoff pinion 38 can represent a one-tenth cent per gallon change over a two-cent range.

The range of the device described herein can be considerably lowered by reversing the inputs to the planetary system, i.e., by making the tenths ratio gear system drive the cage of the planetary system and making the cents ratio gear system drive the input sun gear of the planetary system. A perusal of the formula appearing at line 49, column 3, hereof will readily indicate that if this is done, the ratio of worm gear drive 14, 18 should be changed from 5:1 to :1; that the direction of the rotation of the cents stack should be reversed; and that all ratio gears having an odd number of teeth should be removed from the cents stack. By making these modifications, the range of the device will :be 3 c.p.g. to 13.9 c.p.g. in increments of one-tenth of a cent.

It will be seen from the foregoing that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit thereof. Consequently, the illustrative embodiments shown and described herein are to be taken as a matter of example only, and the invention is not to be deemed limited thereby.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: a

1. A computing counter, comprising:

(a) input means for producing at least one input rotational motion whose angular velocity is proportional to a base quantity;

(b) first variable gearing means including more than ten ratio gears mounted, in the form of a cone, to a common shaft geared to said input means, each of said ratio gears having a difierent number of teeth, and pinion means positioned for axial movement along an idler shaft parallel to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with each of said plurality of ratio gears to be driven thereby at a first rotational speed proportional to said base quantity times a first selectable multiplier;

(c) second non-lockable variable gearing means including ten ratio gears mounted, in the form of a cone, to a common shaft geared to said input means, each of said ratio gears having a different number of teeth, and pinion means positioned for axial movement along an idler shaft parallel to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with each of said plurality of ratio gears to be driven thereby at a second rotational speed proportional to said base quantity times a second selectable multiplier;

(d) differential gearing means connected to said first and second variable gearing means for producing an output rotation proportional to the algebraic sum of said first and second intermediate rotation; and

(e) separate selecting means associated with each of said variable gearing means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, each of said selecting means including:

(1) a control element; 7 (2) aligning means actuated by said control element for successively aligning said pinion means with a plurality of said ratio gears; and (3) disengaging means for disengaging said pinion means from said ratio gears during actuation of said aligning means by moving only said idler shaft in a direction away from the surface of said cone.

2. Incrementally manually variable gear reduction apparatus for computing counters adapted to multiply a base quantity by one of a selectable plurality of multipliers through the use of a plurality of ratio gears disposed in the form of a cone, comprising: selecting means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, said selecting means including:

(1) a control element;

(2) pinion means disposed in a plane normal to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with each of a plurality of said ratio gears, each of said ratio gears having a different number of teeth;

(3) aligning means actuated by said control element for successively aligning said pinion means with a plurality of said ratio gears; and

(4) disengaging means for disengaging said pinion means from said ratio gears during actuation of said aligning means.

3. Increamentally manually variable gear reduction apparatus for computing counters adapted to multiply a base quantity by one of a selectable plurality of multipliers through the use of a plurality of ratio gears disposed in the form of a cone, comprising: selecting means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, said selecting means including:

(1) a control element;

(2) pinion means disposed in a plane normal to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with each of a plurality of said ratio gears, each of said ratio gears having a different number of teeth;

(3) aligning means actuated by said control element for successively aligning said pinion means with a plurality of said ratio gears;

(4) disengaging means for disengaging said pinion means from said ratio gears during actuation of said aligning means;

(5) resilient means for resiliently urging said pinion means into engagement with said ratio gears;

(6) adjustable limit means for limiting the movement of said pinion means toward said ratio gears under the influence of said resilient means; and

(7) fixed output gear means in sliding but continuous engagement with said pinion means.

4. Incrementally manually variable gear reduction apparatus for computing counters adapted to multiple a base quantity by one of a selectable plurality of multipliers, comprising: selecting means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, said selecting means including:

(l) a control element;

(2) a stack of ratio gears in the form of a cone, each gear of said stack having a different number of teeth; and freely rotatable pinion means disposed in a plane normal to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with successive ones of said gears;

(3) aligning means including guide block means carrying said pinion means; said guide block means permitting free rotation of said pinion means with respect thereto but holding it against axial movement with respect thereto; lead screw means rotatable by said control element and having said guide block means screwthreaded thereon, the pitch of said lead screw being equal to the spacing of said ratio gears in the axial direction of said lead screw; and means 9 holding said guide block means against rotation but permitting free axial movement thereof, whereby said pinion means can be successively aligned with ratio gears;

(4) disengaging means for disengaging said pinion means from said ratio gears during actuation of said aligning means by movement of said pinion means in its plane;

() resilient means for resiliently urging said pinion means into engagement with said ratio gears;

(6) adjustable limit means for limiting the movement of said pinion means toward said ratio gears under the influence of said resilient means; and

(7) fixed output gear means in sliding but continuous engagement with said pinion means.

5. Incrementally manually variable gear reduction apparatus for computing counters adapted to multiply a base quantity by one of a selectable plurality of multipliers through the use of a plurality of ratio gears disposed in the form of a cone, comprising: selecting means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, said selecting means including:

(1) a control element;

(2) pinion means disposed in a plane normal to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with each of a plurality of said ratio gears, each of said ratio gears having a different number of teeth;

(3) aligning means actuated by said control element for successively aligning said pinion means with a plurality of said ratio gears;

(4) camming means associated with said aligning means and cooperating with stop means fixed with respect to the mounting carrying said ratio gears to space said aligning means from said ratio gears sufficiently to disengage said pinion means therefrom unless said pinion means is aligned with one of said ratio gears, by moving said pinion means in its plane;

(5) resilient means for resiliently urging said pinion means into engagement with said ratio gears;

(6) limit means for limiting the movement of said pinion means toward said ratio gears under the influence of said resilient means; and

(7 fixed output gear means in sliding but continuous engagement with said pinion means.

6. Incrementally manually variable gear reduction apparatus for computing counters adapted to multiply a base quantity by one of a selectable plurality of multipliers, comprising: selecting means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, said selecting means including:

(1) a control element;

(2) a stack of ratio gears in the form of a cone, each gear of said stack having a different number of teeth; and freely rotatable pinion means disposed on a plane normal to the surface of said cone and selectively engageable with successive ones of said gears;

(3) aligning means including guide block means carrying said pinion means, said guide block means permitting free rotation of said pinion means with respect thereto but holding it against axial movement with respect thereto; lead screw means rotatable by said control element and having said guide block means screwthreaded thereon. the pitch of said lead screw being equal to the spacing of said ratio gears in the axial direction of said lead screw; and means holding said guide block means against rotation but permitting free axial movement thereof, whereby said pinion means can be successively aligned with said ratio gears;

(4) camming means associated with said aligning means and cooperating with stop means fixed with respect to the mounting carrying said ratio gears to space said aligning means from said ratio gears sufficientlyrto disengage said pinion means therefrom during all but that portion of the rotational movement of said lead screw when said pinion means is aligned with one of said ratio gears, by movement of said pinion means in its plane;

(5) resilient means for resiliently urging said pinion means into engagement with said ratio gears;

(6) limit means for limiting the movement of said pinion means toward said ratio gears under the influence of said resilient means; and

(7) fixed output gear means in sliding but continuous engagement with said pinion means.

7. A computing counter, comprising:

(a) drive shaft means powered to rotate at a speed proportional to the delivery rate of a commodity being measured;

(b) first variable gearing means including more than ten ratio gears stacked in the form of a cone and mounted to a common shaft geared to said drive shaft means, and freely rotatable pinion means selectively axially movable into engagement with any one of said ratio gears to be driven thereby at a first rotational speed proportional to said delivery rate times a first selectable multiplier;

(c) second non-lockable variable gearing means including ten ratio gears stacked in the form of a cone and mounted to a common shaft geared to said input means, and freely rotatable'pinion means selectively axially movable into engagement with any one of said ratio gears to be driven thereby at a second rotational speed proportional to said base quantity times a first selectable multiplier;

(d) planetary gear means having their inputs rotationally connected to the outputs of said first and second variable gearing means, respectively, so as to produce at their output a rotation proportional to the algebraic sum of two rotations, each proportional to said delivery rate times an independently selectable multiplier;

(e) separate selecting means associated with each of said variable gearing means for selecting at least one of said multipliers, each of said selecting means including:

(1) a control element;

(2) aligning means including guide block means carrying said pinion means, said guide block means permitting free rotation of said pinion means with respect thereto but holding it against axial movement with respect thereto; lead screw means disposed parallel to the surface of said cone and rotatable by said control element and having said guide block means screwthreaded thereon, the pitch of said lead screw being equal to the spacing of said ratio gears in the axial direction of said lead screw; and means holding said guide block means against rotation but permitting free axial movement theretof, whereby said pinion means can be successively aligned with said ratio gears;

(3) camming means associated with said aligning means and cooperating with stop means fixed with respect to the mounting carrying said ratio gears to space said aligning means from said ratio gears sufliciently to disengage said pinion means therefrom during all but that portion of the rotational movement of said lead screw when said pinion means is aligned with one of said ratio gears by moving said lead screw away from said cone;

(4) spring means associated with said aligning means and the mounting means carrying said ratio gears to resiliently bias said aligning means toward said ratio gears;

(5) adjustable limit means for limiting the movement of said pinion means toward said ratio gears under the influence of said resilient means; and

11 (6) fixed output gear means in sliding but con tinuous engagement with said pinion means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 12 Haupt 235-61 Young 235-61 McGaughey 235-61 Bumpus 235-61 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. 1 LEO SMILOW, STEPHEN J. TOMSKY, Examiners. T. J. ANDERSON, S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A COMPUTING COUNTER, COMPRISING: (A) INPUT MEANS FOR PRODUCING AT LEAST ONE INPUT ROTATIONAL MOTION WHOSE ANGULAR VELOCITY IS PROPORTIONAL TO A BASE QUANTITY; 